The University News

Issue date: 3/30/09 Section: Sports

Vikas Patel smashed his way through five games to a second-place finish.

At the top of an incredibly hot stairwell, the fourth-floor racquetball courts in the Swinney Recreation Center were occupied with furiously fast play - only the athletes were using paddles and the game was table tennis.

Senior Stephen Person, Chemistry, said he was releasing tension after having finished his last midterm.

First-year medical student David Poindexter suggested a winning strategy to Person: Lose the first match, move into the easy bracket and then take your chances in the final match.

It all seemed very serious, but the event, organized by International Honor Society Phi Beta Delta member Simon Khagi, evolved into a relaxed and friendly early-evening event March 18 for a cross-section of UMKC ping pong fans.

Khagi, a sixth-year medical student facing Match Day the following morning (see page 3), was understandably distracted, and so, when defeated in the third round, was not overly worried.

"It's a personal passion," Khagi said. "I grew up playing with my dad and my grandfather and my brother in the basement."

Khagi has handled the event for the past six years.

He said he originally wanted to duck out this year because of his career-defining moment the following morning, but in the end he was happy to do it again.

Maybe the distraction brought him luck.

He was accepted by his first-ranked choice to specialize in Cardiology and will be headed to Dartmouth-Hitchcock MC in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Two other medical school students were more focused on the game at hand.

Senior Rana Singh placed first and second-year Vikas Patel was the runner-up.

The prizes were Phi Beta Delta T-shirts and, as Khagi said, "Knowing they're champions of ping pong at UMKC."

dsimons@unews.com

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